A blog devoted to the discussion of the greatest movies ever made, or The Essential Films. From the beginning of cinema history to present day, these films are crucial to the education of anyone who loves the art of film making.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

100 Greatest Movie Love Stories

In honor of Valentine's Day, The Essential Films counts down the 100 greatest cinematic love stories. Many of society's conventions and notions of romance come from pop culture's, specifically the movies', depiction of love and relationships... so what better way to pay tribute than to count down the 100 most romantic films of all time?

The criteria are as follows:

Narrative film, at least 60 minutes in length (no documentaries or short films)

Films with a release date up to 2010 are eligible. Films released in 2011 or 2012 are not eligible.

The love story does not have to be the main focus of the film, however the love story must be one of the main narrative threads for at least one character. While the film itself doesn't have to be a "romance"to be eligible, a character simply can't just be in a relationship. Love or the relationship must be the main focus of at least one protagonist.

The film does NOT have to have a happy ending. In fact, most films on this list do not.

His friends would say stop whining, they've had enough of that. / His friends would say stop pining, there's other girls to look at. / They've tried to set him up with Tiffany and Indigo, / But there's something about Mary that they don't know. / Mary, there's just something about Mary.

98 - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet(1996)

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Writers: Craig Pearce & Baz Luhrmann based on the play by William Shakespeare

Oh, no. This difficulty was in me. When an Immortal finds himself envying the Mortal he is entrusted to his care, it's a danger signal. Take her in your arms and hold her tight. Kiss her for me, you lucky Henry!

- Look again, Pige. Look, there's a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it. Where two dogs can find adventure and excitement. And beyond those distant hills, who knows what wonderful experiences? And it's all ours for the taking, Pige. It's all ours.

- From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.

- Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much of your time.

81 - Penny Serenade (1941)

Director: George Stevens

Writer: Morrie Ryskind

Principal Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Beulah Bondi

We don't need each other anymore. When that happens to two people, there's nothing left.

I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly. You are the-the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human being.

- Wouldn't it have been lovely if we'd met before? - Before we did? Yes. - We'd have got married, had a house and children. If we'd had children, Yuri, would you like a boy or girl? - I think we may go mad if we think about all that. - I shall always think about it.

- I just, ehm, well, this is a very stupid question and... , particularly in view of our recent shopping excursion, but I just wondered, by any chance, ehm, eh, I mean obviously not because I guess I've only slept with 9 people, but-but I-I just wondered... ehh. I really feel, ehh, in short, to recap it slightly in a clearer version, eh, the words of David Cassidy in fact, eh, while he was still with the Partridge family, eh, "I think I love you," and eh, I-I just wondered by any chance you wouldn't like to... Eh... Eh... No, no, no of course not... I'm an idiot, he's not... Excellent, excellent, fantastic, eh, I was gonna say lovely to see you, sorry to disturb... Better get on... - That was very romantic. - Well, I thought it over a lot, you know, I wanted to get it just right.

- No, it's destiny! You must know how it goes! The Knight rescues the Princess, and then they share true love's first kiss... - With Shrek? Whoa, whoa, whoa... you think, you think that Shrek is your true love?

- You're all confused, aren't you? - Aren't you? - No. - Well you should be, because you're wrong about things being different because they're not the same. Things are different except in a different way. You're still the same, only I've been a fool... but I'm not now. - Oh. - So long as I'm different don't you thing that... well maybe things could be the same again... only a little different, huh?

God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest eyes. She looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be alone with her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her and take care of her. Stop it you idiot, she's your wife's sister.

I've grown accustomed to her face! She almost makes the day begin! I've grown accustomed to the tune that she whistles night and noon. Her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs, are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in... I was serenely independent and content before we met! Surely I could always be that way again... And yet... I've grown accustomed to her looks, accustomed to her voice, accustomed... to her... face.

- In the months leading up to my wedding, I was thinking about you all the time. I mean, even on my way there; I'm in the car, a buddy of mine is driving me downtown and I'm staring out the window, and I think I see you, not far from the church, right? Folding up an umbrella and walking into a deli on the corner of 13th and Broadway. And I thought I was going crazy, but now I think it probably was you. - I lived on 11th and Broadway. - You see?

My girl Holly and I decided to kill ourselves. The same way I did her Daddy. Big decision, you know. Uh, the reasons are obvious. I don't have time to go into right now. But, one thing though, he was provoking me when I popped him. Well that's what it was like. Pop. I'm sorry. I mean, nobody's coming out of this thing happy. Especially not us. I can't deny we've had fun though.

42 - The Remains of the Day (1993)
Director: James Ivory
Writers: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Principal Cast: Christopher Reeve, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson

- How come you don't play during daytime? I see you here everyday. - During the daytime people would want to hear songs that they know, just songs that they recognize. I play these song at night or I wouldn't make any money. People wouldn't listen. - I listen.

40 - Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Principal Cast: Liv Ullmann, Erland JosephsonSometimes it's like husband and wife are talking on telephones that are out of order.

- You know as much about me as I do myself. But...you see how long it's taken me to get this far. Now, all I need is just a little luck. - What kind of luck? - Oh, the kind of luck that every girl singer with a band dreams of--one night a big talent scout from a big record company might come in and he'll let me make a record. - Yes, and then? - Well, the record will become number one on the Hit Parade, it'll be played on the jukeboxes all over the country...and I'll be made. End of dream. - There's only one thing wrong with that. - I know--it won't happen! - No, it might happen pretty easily--but the dream isn't big enough.

Yes, I love him. I love those hick shirts he wears with the boiled cuffs and the way he always has his vest buttoned wrong. Looks like a giraffe, and I love him. I love him because he's the kind of a guy that gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. Love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk!

George, my husband... George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: yes, this will do.

You know what you are? You're God's answer to Job, y'know? You would have ended all argument between them. I mean, He would have pointed to you and said, y'know, "I do a lot of terrible things, but I can still make one of these." You know? And then Job would have said, "Eh. Yeah, well, you win."

"We never had any trouble." How many times have I told you I hated you and believed it in my heart? How many times have you said you were sick and tired of me; that we were all washed up? How many times have we had to fall in love all over again?

- Why can't you let me alone? - Because you're my responsibility and someone has to take care of you. - I can take care of myself. - You can't look me in the eye and say that. You love me and you know it. You know, there's no sense in struggling against a thing when it's got you. It's got you and that's all there is to it - it's got you!

26 - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Director: George Cukor
Writers: Donald Ogden Stewart based on the play by Philip Barry
Principal Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard

- It can't be anything like love, can it? - No, no, it can't be. - Would it be inconvenient? - Terribly.

This song of the Man and his Wife is of no place and every place; you might hear it anywhere, at any time. For wherever the sun rises and sets, in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much the same; sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.

I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

14 - West Side Story (1961)
Directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Writers: Ernest Lehman based on the book by Arthur Laurents and the play conceived by Jerome Robbins
Principal Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George ChakrisHold my hand and we are halfway there, hold my hand and I'll take you there. Somehow! Someday!

Dear Lord, We've come to the end of our journey, and in a little while we'll stand before you. I pray for you to be merciful. Judge us not for our weaknesses, but for our love and open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me.

- I said some awful things that night, didn't I? - No. I deserved them. But I must admit I was hurt by them. So hurt in fact that I haven't been able to think about anything but you ever since.

10 Annie Hall (1977)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Principal Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon The... the other important joke, for me, is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud's "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious," and it goes like this - I'm paraphrasing - um, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women.

- There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth. - Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work.

- I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. - But what about us? - We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night. - When I said I would never leave you. - And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. - Now, now... Here's looking at you kid.